


Non-concurrent Hypotheses

by Ekatarinabeisel76



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Bullying, Gen, Kid Fic, Parenthood, Science Boyfriends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-13
Updated: 2012-12-13
Packaged: 2017-11-21 00:20:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/591330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ekatarinabeisel76/pseuds/Ekatarinabeisel76
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony is utterly horrified that their daughter struggles in her science class, while Bruce simply accepts it. Unable to accept the vaguest possibility that any child of theirs could be anything but preternaturally gifted at science, Tony bugs the science classroom, and discovers that the subject matter isn't the issue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Non-concurrent Hypotheses

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lesslofty](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesslofty/gifts).



> For ilovemanyfandoms, who wanted some science boyfriend fic. I actually don't usually ship these two, but it's growing on me.

Tony held the unfolded slip of paper in front of his face, with his mouth hanging open and his coffee cup held aloft in his other hand, still halfway to his lips. He stared blankly at the words printed on the paper, refusing to accept them and rereading them to make sure, just one more time, that it really did say that. But they couldn't mean that. That was impossible, not even improbable or unlikely - it was simply impossible. He kept sounding the words out in his mind, over and over again, as if the words would eventually mutate into a more acceptable mantra.

“Rebecca Maria Stark-Banner has no enthusiasm for science and a poor attitude, which has proven to be to the detriment of her grade in my class. Unless she develops an appreciation for science and a better work ethic, she will undoubtedly fail the course, which is a core credit.” He read it aloud this time, so that Bruce could hear what their daughter’s interim report said too.

Bruce was enjoying his breakfast, chewing a mouthful of waffle while reading over the newspaper rather than the interim report that the school had mailed to their address. There hadn't been any others in the mailbox, and it was the very first time that Rebecca had even gotten an interim report. Indeed, all of her other grades were perfect, and all of her other teachers seemed perfectly satisfied with her attitude and enthusiasm.

Rebecca simply sat in silence, as she had suddenly taken a very keen interest in her toast. Her wavy black hair was barely contained in a bun by a red scrunchie at the top of her head, and her bright blue eyes were tinged dark, overcast with anxiety. She had an hour until she needed to leave for school, and the arrival of her interim report made her wish that she had made up some excuse to go in early, before either of her parents were awake. Unfortunately, that was an unlikely occurrence, and that stupid woman would have written home anyway, or worse, called. 

At that thought, Rebecca’s heart sank into her feet with unmitigated dread, weighing her down like a sack of lead bars. Ms. Lewizky might decide that the report wasn't enough. She might call home to talk to her parents. She might ask them to come in for a meeting. Rebecca could feel her cheeks burning hot as she envisioned, with mounting horror, the terrible lies that Ms. Lewizky would make up about her.

“Can you believe this?” Tony demanded of his husband. “I can’t believe this. Can you believe this? Is this woman out of her mind? There has to be a mistake.” He said, with an air of definitive finality that seemed to proclaim to the whole wide world just how insecure he felt about the fast-emerging possibility that his daughter might not be cut out to be a scientist.

Bruce spared him a calm glance as he tore his gaze away from the newspaper. He seemed to take the news in stride. He hadn't even stopped eating his breakfast, for which Rebecca was thankful because her other father had reacted by spewing his mouthful of coffee all over the table spread.

“Rebecca, sweetie, I think you should go up to your room while your father and I discuss this.” His tone was affectionate and calm, practiced and precise, but it also brokered absolutely no refusal. Not that Rebecca had been looking forward to the possibility of being present for the conversation. Quite to the contrary, as Tony had read Ms. Lewizky’s comments aloud, a tomato-red tinge had begun creeping up her neck. Now it consumed the whole of her face, which she kept hidden as best she could with her hair up as she whisked herself away to her bedroom.

As soon as he estimated her to be out of earshot, Bruce fixed Tony with a steely gaze that might have been able to curdle milk and infest buildings with poltergeists.

“Tony, you’re being very immature about all of this.” He accused. Tony sputtered, failing to comprehend how that conclusion could be even vaguely plausible to his genius husband. He decided to put it down to shock and press forward with his assertion that this whole thing was a mistake.

“Bruce, look at us. You are a leading nuclear physicist and I have two PhDs, one in physics and the other in electrical engineering – how is it even possible for Rebecca not to have enthusiasm for science? And when has she ever had a poor attitude in anything? And-“

“You’re putting too much pressure on her. Has it occurred to you that she might not be as scientifically inclined as we are? Not everything is genetic.” Bruce interrupted him. Tony didn't seem to have heard him however, as he simply kept on going.

 

“You notice that she never said anything about grades or classroom performance, just a bad attitude and a lack of enthusiasm. No one else has ever said that about Becky, and has it occurred to you, Bruce, that maybe this teacher just has it in for her?” he finished hotly, leaning further across the table in increments and raising an eyebrow as he finished his point.

“Perhaps, but what do you propose we do Tony, barge into the school with unsupported claims and point fingers? That will only make it more embarrassing for her; she needs to handle it herself.”

“What if she’s being bullied?” Tony asked. “Teachers bully kids all the time, and then they send home comments like this about things that have no factual bearing on academic success!” he hissed, completely exasperated.

“Or maybe she does have an attitude.” Bruce argued; he was starting to get really irritated now. “It wouldn't be a genetic mystery if that turned out to be true, now would it? And don’t you think that Becky would have told us if someone was bullying her? She knows that’s not okay.”

Tony’s mind whirled around on itself and imploded as if it were a self-destructing black hole. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He couldn't just sit here and do nothing. Something had to be wrong. This whole situation was just wrong. That teacher, Ms. Lewizky, was wrong. Bruce was wrong.

He slipped out of the loft condominium, under the pretense of running some errands downstairs as the CEO of Stark Industries. He called Pepper first, and told her that if anyone asked, he was absolutely not at his daughter’s school, implanting spyware in the classroom of a Ms. Lewizky, especially if the inquirer happened to be his husband. 

The flight to the school was short, since it was just downtown and only a few blocks away from Stark Tower. After a little bit of fiddling around, he managed to override the security codes and unlock the door to the large cafeteria pantry. After that it was a short walk to a third-floor classroom with a plaque beside the door that read ‘Ms. Diana Lewizky - 6th Grade Science’. 

Tony couldn't help the smile that burst across his face at the simplicity of his mission. He hadn't needed to lie, use his fame, or even talk to anyone yet, and he was almost done. In less than ten minutes, he would be back home and Bruce would never suspect a thing. He didn't even need to get inside the classroom for the bug to pick up clear audio and video – it just stuck to the small pane of glass in the door like a persistent piece of scotch tape leftover from a sign. He could watch Ms. Lewizky all day, all week, and then he would know who was right or wrong about Rebecca’s enthusiasm for science and attitude.

With his mission accomplished, Tony sped out of the school and back home to Stark Tower, where Pepper was anxiously waiting for an explanation for his earlier phone call. He didn't have time to give it to her though, as Fury was waiting on line two, the head of the European branch was on line four, and Bruce was on line one. He didn't even have time to check the live stream from the bug he had planted until well after lunch time, and when he did open the desktop icon after a lunchtime meeting with the Board of Investors, he almost wished that he hadn't.  
Ms. Lewizky was a petite woman in her late twenties or early thirties, with strawberry blonde hair and brown eyes that had a tendency to flash with sudden, violent, anger. The targets of her anger seemed to be students who didn't pay attention, worked ahead, or who corrected her. However, in the unfortunate case of Rebecca Maria Stark-Banner, Ms. Lewizky’s wrath had been incurred by her loud assertion that she could not do that to them.

Tony trembled from head to toe in suppressed rage as he contemplated what exactly to do with this information. As much as he would have liked to practice firing supercharged energy blasts at her out of the mach5 suit, he doubted that even Fury could get him out of criminal charges for that. He couldn't go to the police, because how exactly would he have gotten the footage? For the same reason, he couldn't go to the school administration.

Despite the lack of clarity as to his next action, Tony was sure that Bruce needed to see the video too. It wasn't just his deep-seated need to prove that he had been right after all that pushed him to the decision, but also his absolute certainty that, barring a transformation into a huge green rage monster, Bruce would know what to do.  
It took his husband all of ten minutes to reply to the email that he had sent him with the link to the live stream. Bruce burst into his office, startling everyone from the security guards to Pepper, who looked as white as a sheet wrung out and hung to dry on the line. His glasses were just a tiny bit askew, the gig-line between his trousers and button down was horribly crooked, his hair seemed to stand on end, and on top of that, he seemed to have ripped his white lab coat clean into two separate pieces.

“Honey.” Tony began quietly. “You should really sit down.” He tried to coax him into a comfortable office chair that faced his desk.  
Bruce just shook his head. It has a stiff motion, and his face seemed gridlock by his pursed lips, furrowed brow, and the clenched muscles in his jaw.

“Seriously, Bruce, babe, you’re turning green.” Tony tried to reason with him.

“Not even funny Anthony.” Bruce fumed, obviously thinking that the comment had been intended as a joke.

“No, it’s not.” Tony said as he forced his husband into a chair by pressing down on his shoulders. “But calm down. You can’t help me plot her demise if you go Hulk and smash the entire school.”

Bruce nodded slowly, and took a few deep, shaky breathes. He stayed quiet for what felt for a long time, wracking his brain for any possible solution to the problem. 

“I’m sorry.” He finally said. At his husband’s confused gaze, he added, “You were right and I just assumed that it was nothing to worry about. I should have listened to you. I’m sorry. I just-”

“No.” Tony cut him off. “You weren't wrong and neither was I. It was the teacher, but it isn't Becky being bullied. Now we just need to figure out what to do about this whole mess.”   
After another long silence, Tony spoke again.

“You remember a few days ago, when Becky convinced us to let her stay home from school? Do you think this had something to do with it? I mean, I was sure it was something viral, but-“

Bruce sat bolt upright in his chair as if he had been struck by lightning and pinned still by an iron rod. He snapped his head up to capture his husband’s somewhat alarmed gaze, and blurted out, “That’s it! Tony, that’s it!”

“What’s it?” Tony asked, not sure what a stomach bug had to do with ousting their daughter’s teacher.

“We don’t need to show the video to anyone in particular, we just need to show it to everyone.” Bruce rambled on. “We need to make the video go viral – post it on every sharing site and social networking site, and then let it spread. All we need to do is include the name of the teacher and the school, and they’ll have to do something about it because it’ll be a direct identification.”

Tony’s eyes lit up. Of course! Why hadn't he thought of that before? It was so simple, and so untraceable! It would take no more than a few seconds per site, and then he could just spread the link through his entire contact list, and ask everyone to forward it on to their contacts. Covering his tracks would be so easy that he didn't even need to factor in the time it would take to do it.

“We can add it to the school’s Facebook page, and the twitter account, and I can just hack the official website and embed the video on the front page!” his musing overflowed the silent confines of his mind and spilled out audibly.

“Yes!” Bruce nodded fervently. “And then they’ll have no choice but to address it. They’ll open an official investigation into Ms. Lewizky, and then Rebecca and the other students can just come out and say what she’s been doing.”

They stood there in silence for another moment, before they each bolted toward the other and engulfed each other in a gripping hug. It has almost bone-crushing with Bruce’s fading anger and Tony’s raging excitement, but it was awesome. It fit with the feeling of conquering one of the most unspeakable evils of parenting. Neither of them really wanted to let go, to let the embrace end, but Tony needed to get the video up so that they could begin the swift process of ruining Ms. Lewizky’s career, and Bruce needed to mainline coffee until his blood pressure returned to an acceptable human level.

As Tony settled behind his desk, he caught Bruce’s gaze as he headed back to his lab. There was a mischievousness there that Tony hadn't spotted in a long time, and it reminded him of why exactly he had gotten into a serious relationship with Dr. Bruce Banner in the first place.

Sure, it probably had something to do with wanting to know more about his massive intellect and untapped knowledge of nuclear physics, and maybe a little bit to do with saving the world, and then an added dose of finding out what SHIELD was up to with arc reactors, but there had always been the underlying question of which of them was more of a genius. And after more than a decade of marriage, Tony could definitively say that their strength wasn’t in their differences in intelligence, experience, or talents, but their widely varying and non-concurrent hypothesis, and the great lengths to which they would both go to prove them.


End file.
